I think I know a lot. I’ve been a life long learner. I’ve studied and practiced engineering in the energy industry. I am an amateur ancient civilization geek. I love to meet new people, travel and learn all that I can. According to my Enneagram, I am an Investigator (5).
The one thing I have learned in my journey as a lifelong student is that I will never know it all. Frankly, the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. If I don’t know much, how can I comment on correcting your political thought?
I can’t.
In our United States of America we are becoming politically polarized. There are many reasons for this, not all of which are bad. However, this polarization has led to a division of worldview and thought to the point that we have become a divided nation. I welcome diversity of thought. I believe challenging thoughts and ideas can be a good thing.
However, it has become damaging in our political discourse.
I want to introduce a concept that I believe may help you and the rest of us unite on the truth when it comes to politics.
There is a truth that most of us will never know. Outside of this truth is false information. The left tends to believe aspects of the truth that confirm their left bias while the right tends to believe portions of the truth that confirm their right bias. Both the left and the right believe ideas that are not true, but are consistent with their view of the world. As we become more polarized the left move further left, and the right move further right believing less of the truth and more of their bias.
I have recently published a book called Engineering Unity. In this book I try to fairly describe the view of the left, the view of the right, and the view of a centrist. A centrist is not fully true. However, they have attempted to consider the points made by both sides and come to a comprised view of the truth.
Because of our party politics and the nature of how we conduct elections, we are rarely exposed to a centrist view of the truth.
What if the left is correct?
My concept assumes that the truth is in the middle of the left and the right. If this is correct, then we ought to follow those on the left instead of believing that a compromise between the right and the left is correct. This left leaning truth will look something like this in my political thought diagram.
If this diagram were true, the right would be completely wrong, and the center would be mostly correct with missing information. The center will adopt some views from the right that are false. The left would be mostly correct with a few extreme left views that are false.
This same shift will happen the other way if the right were correct.
In all cases, the centrist view has the least amount of false information.
Democracy at its Finest
As a democratic republic, we elect representatives. Those representatives do the deep thinking about defining and solving complex political problems. At least, that’s the way our system of government is supposed to work.
You see? We all don’t know where the TRUTH lies along this spectrum. We all have different worldviews. We all have different life experiences. We have all received a different level of education. Incidentally, those experts have studied scientific ideas are very intelligent people. However, they have no unique claim on the truth and are just as politically polarized as the rest of us.
A healthy democracy allows open debate and conversation about the truth of any subject. This is why “woke” politics and “political correctness” has stifled political thought on the left. On the right, “religious dogma” tends to limit debate and conversation.
If we compromise on political ideals, there is no guarantee that these decisions will be correct. However, these decisions will tend to better reflect the will of most people in our country. Isn’t this what a democracy is supposed to be?
Stay Tuned
You can read my book, Engineering Unity : A Path to Resolving Political Polarization in the United States; or read my blog posts, or watch my videos. When I discuss political topics, I will do so by illustrating how that topic is viewed by the left, the right and the center. My aim is to knit together these three different thoughts to improve political thought and re-unite our divided country.
About the Author
Jeff Schuster is an accomplished businessman, engineer, and writer. Jeff's latest book is Engineering Unity which addresses political polarization on wedge issues that politicians use to divide us. Jeff creates weekly videos that highlight political topics and insight designed to highlight truth and reunite our divided country. You are welcome to join our private Facebook group called Reengineering Politics where we discuss politically polarizing topics in a civil manner.
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